Selective numbing (was: Re: Why is high high?)

[Eliot Handelman <eliot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Vermiglio wrote:

> Eliot,
> Have you actually measured your hearing thresholds before and after exposure
> to the "extremely intense very high pitched sounds"?  The absence of pain is
> a poor indicator of cochlear damage due to loud sounds.

Andy, during and after exposure to high-intensity high sounds
my frequency response was noticably numbed. My own voice souded
different to me afterwards, as though my hearing had been selectively anesthetized,
though after a few minutes things returned to
normal. I wonder whether anyone here knows of relevant studies
involving selected numbing of this sort? My thought is that the
numbing effect is a protective adaptation, which fails to come into
play with loud bass sounds with a rich spectrum, such as is normally
found in rock music, which, I think, does cause
hearing loss. I don't go to rock concerts regularly but when I have I've never
noticed the special selective numbing effect found in the other music.

-- eliot

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